P5A
by JosFarrell
Summary: This is the story of how the world ended. How even all the "heroes" couldn't even save themselves, let alone humanity. This is the story, of how darkness won...
1. Prologue: A Man's World

This is… rather unfortunate. I wasn't expecting someone right now. I was actually planning to rest, but since you've arrived, I guess that the least I can do is tell you a story.

The story of how the world ended… Or at least was close to.

Should I introduce myself? Being honest, I really don't want to. In fact, I don't even want to keep living, but unfortunately I can't have that. In the world I live in, dying is a privilege. If you die, you'll save yourself from the dozens of demons and monsters hunting down the last of civilization. You'll think that the survivors would actually have some sort of way of dealing with some of those problems, but the thing is that those "survivors" are just mad people screaming and crying every damn minute of the day. I can't even fully remember who I was before everything happened. Oh, sorry, I'll give you a brief explanation of what happened.

The nightmare started a few years ago. A bunch of kids were facing an evil entity that tried to destroy humanity. They managed to win, but something went wrong. Since that day, everything has gone to hell. Imagine being trapped in a world where there's nothing, only horrible creatures and mad people. Well, that's how our story begins.

The desolated streets of Sumaru City really managed to give an eerie vibe that any horror movie would envy. Now add the unsettling growl and moans of the monsters and demons, and the screams of the few people left gone mad, you start to feel more and more hopeless and scared. But I'm not feeling like that. In fact, I was enjoying every bit of it. I had lost everything, so why shouldn't I try to enjoy myself?

I was walking through the streets of the city without any worry. In fact, I'm just humming a song, not really caring about the disturbing sounds and sights of the town. I'm wearing a black suit, and in my hand I'm carrying a briefcase. Maybe I look a lot like a businessman going to his job like any normal day, but gotta always be true to myself. But I've been feeling this… sensation. Someone is following me, I know it. But I also know that nobody left in this world is sane enough to follow me and resist the urge to attack me or scream at me. I stop in the middle of the street.

"I know you're following me." I say in the calmest way possible, that it almost sound scary.

"Surprise." Someone else talks, but there's no one on the street, it's as deserted as it can be. I realized that, but I didn't really care.

"Why are you watching me?" I say.

"I need someone like you. You see, something similar happened where I'm from. The thing is, I want it to happen everywhere." Says the voice that, even though it sounds distorted, can be heard clearly.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, with now some interest growing.

"Have you seen the demons around the city? How they don't have any worry and actually live and interact with each other."

"Yeah, only when they are not killing other people or themselves."

"You see, those are not demons or mindless monsters. They are gods. They are the incarnation of human minds and will. They are one with the sea of souls, all connected. Why shouldn't everyone enjoy that?"

"I'm not really getting what you're trying to do."

"You don't have to. You'll figure it out soon enough."

Being honest, I'm not really convinced about what the voice said. Why all of a sudden someone said all those things to me, of all "people" ? I mean, I thought I was already mad, but this was in a whole other level.

"Sorry, not interested." I give my answer without any hint of regret and start walking again down the street.

"Don't you want to see your daughter again?"

What… did he say?

"What the hell are you talking about?!" I ask demanding an answer.

"I come from another world, another dimension. There are countless of them. And in one particular dimension, THIS never happened, and your family went on to have its own path, separated from the Nanjos. And your little Mitsuru lives, unlike in here."

"What…? HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?! HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MITSURU?!"

"You know, your father was a bit of an asshole, but he also believed in what I'm telling you."

I don't understand… What is he saying? Am I really hearing this? It's just nonsense, right? I mean, everyone is dead, everyone's gone mad. Nobody knows about the Nanjos, nobody knows about my father, nobody knows about Mitsuru. Do you know why? Because everyone's dead. The Nanjos, my father, my daughter, mankind… They're all dead.

"I'm insane… That has to be it…"

"Well, to be fair you were already insane, I'm just trying to give another chance." … But only if you accept."

He knows. The son of a bitch knows. He knows who I am, who my family was. How the hell is that possible…? I just can't really process anything. This is just my mind playing tricks. Maybe it's one of those goddamn Pixies confusing me. Yeah… Yeah, that's it! Those demons finally caught me. I guess I was just prolonging the inevitable. I'll just surrender, let them have their fun, I accept it.

"So, what do you say, Takeharu Kirijo-san?"

He knows. He really knows. This is all just some kind of trick, a spell from one of those Pixies…

But, what if it's not? What if he is saying the truth? What if he's right? What if I can see Mitsuru again? Just what if…

Heh… Hah Hah… Hahaha ha hahaha… HAHAHAHAHA… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"... So, what should I do?"

 ** _This is a man's, man's world. But it wouldn't be nothing without my precious little girl..._**

* * *

~I know, I know. It has been two years (I think). The first thing I want to say is: I'm sorry. When I started this story, I never really took it seriously. At the end of the day, it's just a Persona series fan fiction, right?

Well, now is not the case. First of all, english is not my mother tongue, that will explain A LOT of the mistakes throughout this thing. I wanted to step away a bit, try to practice and better my english skills. Honestly, I can't say I'm fully prepared, but I'll never be able to become great at this if I never write anything. So this is a message. I'm still here, and I haven't abandoned this fic. I can't promise I'll update weekly, but I'll do my best. I will actually modify the chapters that were already uploaded. I just wish I had this motivation two years ago before P5R was announced, because I know EVERYTHING will change after that. But oh well, when the time comes I'll make the necessary changes.

Thank you,

JRRF~


	2. Arrival

I was in my way to Tokyo when, all of a sudden, I start to feel somewhat lightheaded. It really was a mistake to take the last train of the evening. I wanted to surprise everyone, but I hope that this doesn't take a toll on me.

It has been a year since I last saw everyone. Even though I was able to stay in contact with my friends, it wasn't the same as hanging out in person. It was kind of difficult for me to get used to living back in my home town. Then, after a long and deep conversation with Morgana, I realized that Tokyo is now my real home. But I was still a minor, so I couldn't have the freedom to go back whenever I wanted. Fortunately, now that we were in spring break, we could be able to be around each other. Now that I think about it, I won't be able to give Makoto her birthday gift without giving something to both Futaba and Yusuke as well. I tried to send them something, just as I did for Ryuji, Ann and Haru, but I lost almost all my money, thanks to Mementos being erased...

As I was lost in thought, I notice that many of the passengers are acting a bit... off, to say the least. Some of them look like they were sick. They look very pale, and it is easy to notice that most of them don't have energy. Maybe the flu season in Tokyo extended all the way up to March?

All of a sudden, I start to feel tired myself. My sight begins to fade, and I slowly lose my consciousness. I try to open my eyes, but something prevents me from doing it. I stop hearing the train or any other noise, and with that I realize what's going on.

When I manage to open my eyes, I immediately notice the place where I am.

Blue... A little dark because of the lack of light, but blue nonetheless. I know this place, I've been here before. I look around from where I'm sitted, and see that there are what appear to be prison cells, all of them open. It's strange... I don't see anybody else. I try to get up, but something forces me to stay put.

"Un.. Ever..."

I suddenly hear something. It's... a voice, but I can't distinguish what it's saying. I think I'm having a little deja vu...

"Comr... Fig... Oth..."

I try to say something, but words can't come out from my mouth. This is really starting to worry me...

"Multi... Ord... Gat... Am... Ne..."

I try to listen to what the voice is saying, but it's no use. My sight begins to fade, and I slowly start to hear more clear sounds.

"...En..."

All of a sudden, I am once again inside the train sitting in my seat. I look around and notice that nobody seemed to think something was wrong. It is honestly a relief, I don't think anybody would understand any of it.

"Hey! Ren!" I snap out of my thoughts and remeber that Morgana is in my bag.

"Hm? What is it?"

"You were dozing off, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. No worries."

"Alright..." Morgana doesn't sound too convienced, but I honestly don't want to worry or bother him. "It's hard to believe we are finally going back, don't you think?"

"Still, it's only for a few days."

"But it's better than nothing. I have really missed Lady Ann..."

"Only her?"

"Well, she gets special treatment from me."

"Wish I had that special treatment as well. That way we would be able to avoid those discussions about going to sleep early."

"Sleeping early is important!"

"Morgana, I don't want to have this conversation again..."

"Hmph! I worry about him and this is what I get..." Morgana says that almost like a whisper, but I'm able to catch it. I figure it's a nice time to tease him a bit.

"What? Sorry, I didn't catch that."

"H-Huh? N-Nothing."

"Aww, are you worried about me?"

"W-What? F-From where did you get that idea?"

"Huh? How odd... I thought I could repay by helping you in winning Ann's heart..."

"H-Hey! I always worry about you! You are someone that I care a lot for! You have the same special treatment Lady Ann has!"

"See? That wasn't so hard."

"A-Anyways, you are going to help me win Lady Ann's heart!"

"Huh? That's weird. I never agreed to any sort of deal."

"H-Hey! Are you just toying with me?!"

"Oh, no! I would never do such a thing!"

"Ugh! You know, if you want to be sarcastic at least try to hide it!"

"Alright , I'm sorry. Least I can do is help you in some way."

"I appreciate it."

"But still. I swore you were hanging out with a female cat back in town..."

"H-Huh?! How did you find out?! W-Wait, I mean..."

"Oh, so you **ARE** cheating on Ann. I didn't expected that from you, the honourable phantom thief."

"W-Whatever bad things you think are completely false! I only have eyes for Lady Ann!"

"I'm going to hold you on to that one."

"Look, just help me out! Okay?"

"Alright then." I wait for Morgana's response, but he stays awfully quiet. For some reason, I know what he's thinking about.

"I have really missed them. I thought you were exaggerating when you said that life was hard over there."

"I wished I had. But I guess that's something normal. The more days go by, the more I start to think we didn't change anything."

"Don't say stuff like that! We definitely did something! It's just that, everything happens slowly and at its own pace."

"I guess that's true."

"Still, it's rare to hear you say stuff like that."

"Huh? Oh, I guess I'm just frustrated."

"I get you. But don't worry, we'll soon see everyone!"

"Yeah... I can't wait to see them."

"Maybe we will have another adventure!"

"I guess we'll see..." I say while I turn my head towards the window, looking at the city.

xxx

 ** _Yongen-Jaya_**

 ** _23:55_**

"Hey... we should... hurry so... we can... go to sleep..." Morgana says with his eyes slowly closing and with a tired voice.

"I'm honestly surprised of the low amount of people there are here at midnight."

"Well, there are still five minutes left until midnight. I'm more surprised of the amount of energy you still manage to have."

"After sleeping early last year thanks to an extremely annoying creature, the amount of energy I have has increased."

"What do you mean with 'annoying creature'?!"

I ignore the angry comments Morgana makes about what I said and keep walking. For some reason, the atmosphere here in Yongen-Jaya feels... strange. As expected, all the stores are closed and the only persons around are the ones who had too much to drink.

"Hey, what are you going to tell the chief?"

"O-Oh, um... I didn't really thought about that."

"What?! How do you expect he is going to open his house's door for us at this hour?! And we don't have Leblanc's key, so we don't have anywhere to sleep!"

"Just trust me. I'll do something."

We head to Sojiro's house at the back of Yongen-Jaya. Man, this place hasn't changed a bit. I take a look at my wristwatch that a certain someone gave me as a Christmas Gift, and notice that it's 23:59. I know Sojiro won't be mad at me for arriving at his house at midnight. Well, maybe he'll get a bit angry, but that anger will dissapear once he realizes I'm really here.

 ** _00:00_**

I suddenly notice something strange. The atmosphere feels even more heavy. I stop walking and take a look around the street. Maybe it's because I'm beginning to feel tired, but I start to see everything in a weird green color. Then I realize all the lights are gone. I look at the sky and see that the moon looks uncommonly big and eerie. Something is wrong. I don't know what, but there's something. I try using my third eye, but I don't detect anything out of the ordinary. Well, apart from the sudden change of atmosphere. I decide to keep walking towards Sojiro's house, and that is when I notice something strange. In the distance, I see what appears to be a... coffin? No, it must be my imagination. Still, I can't help but to notice something is happening. But what should I do?

I decide to go take a closer to that 'coffin'. As I get closer, I notice the coffin is surrounded by some kind of black goo.

"Hey, what's going on? Are we there yet?" Morgana asks, making me jump.

"Y-Yeah, one second." I slowly start to move my arm towards the coffin. Suddenly, I hear a laughter. Not just any laughter, HIS laughter. I immediately turn around, making Morgana angry. I look down the alley I came through, and I see it. A humanoid form, with enormous wings and a top hat. I recognize him...

"Hey! What's wrong with you?!" Morgana gets out of my bag and looks at the same alley I'm looking at. "Huh? What are you looking at?"

"What? You don't..." I quickly take a glance at him and see he has a genuinely confused and worried look on his face. I return my sight to the alley, but nothing's there.

"Hey, we REALLY need to rest. You've been acting weird since we arrived here."

"Yeah, that should be the best." I take one last look at the coffin I was just about to touch, and then start to head to Sojiro's house. Once I arrive, I press the doorbell in hope that either him or Futaba come open the door. But nobody comes. I press the doorbell several times, but still nobody comes to open. I decide to open the small gate and knock on the door. I do it five times and wait for somebody to come. But once again, the door stays closed. I take a look at my wristwatch, but I notice that it's only 00:01. If my calculations are correct, we've been here for ten minutes. How can my watch say that only one minute has passed? God, I'm starting to act like a paranoic weirdo.

I take a quick look at the streets, and realize that everything feels... normal again. That strange color has vanished, and the atmosphere feels less heavy. What is going on?

"...Who can it be at this hour...?" I suddenly hear from inside Sojiro's house. The door opens and I see him without his glasses on and a funny looking pajamas. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Hi Boss."

"Huh...? Wait... Ren?!" Sojiro widely opens his eyes and takes a good look at me.

"Long time no see."

"W-Wait! But how? When? What?!"

"Is it really that surprising to see me?"

"W-Well, yeah! You didn't say anything!"

"Sorry about that. I wanted to surprise everyone. And by the looks of it I managed to surprise you, am I right?"

"There is your cockiness... Still, arriving here at midnight it's quite dangerous and can bring some problems. I really don't want Futaba to wake—"

"Reeeeeeeeeennnnnn!!!!" We hear a loud scream and steps coming from inside the house.

"Oh dear... Here we go." Sojiro says with a resigned look. Futaba arrives at the door and stands beside Sojiro. I see how she looks and try to contain a laugh. Her hair looks extremely messy, a trail of saliva coming from her mouth all the way to the left side if her face, and her pajamas are the same as Sojiro's. She looks like a little girl.

"You're here! How?! Why?! This is great! Please tell me you brought Mona with you. Is he here?! Monaaaaaa?! Look who's here! It's your friendly neighborhood Futaba-sama!"

"H-Hey, please don't tell her I'm here, okay?" Morgana says with the lowest voice possible.

"Hey there, good to see you again!"

"Sojiro! We need to celebrate his return! You know what time it is... It's curry time!" Futaba heads inside the house once again full of energy.

"H-Hey! Ugh, now she won't sleep until I make her that curry. Thanks for that, kid." Sojiro says as he sighs, but then he looks at me with a genuinely warm smile. "Although, it really is nice to have you here."

"Hey! Don't forget about me too!"

"Hm? Oh, you brought the cat with you! I'm surprised you didn't run away."

"I was about to do it several times, but then I realized nobody would pay for my sushi ever again!"

"Sheesh, you are as noisy as I remember. Well, it feels good to have you both here. Come in, the least I can do is make you that curry. Why don't you stay here for the night? It'll be too much of a hassle to open the shop. Get in!"

Sojiro enters his house once again. I'm about to do it, when I take one last look at the streets. Everything seems normal. The lights are on, everything has an ordinary color. Maybe it truly was my imagination. I get inside the house and close the door. I start to think of everything that happened. The weird people at the train, the change in atmosphere, the voices I heard, and Arsène... Wether any of that happened or not, I just hope our days are great.


	3. Back In (SO's) Black

**2: Back In (S.O's) Black**

 **TATSUMI PORT ISLAND**

Junpei Iori was doing everything in his power to not drop the ten grocery bags he was carrying over to his apartment. Even though the store wasn't that far away, the streets were being repaired after an incident with the sewers that, in other words, left a shitty note… literally.

"Damn it, why the hell did I reject Ken-kun's help?"

With great effort, Junpei arrived to his apartment and just threw the grocery bags at the table. His place wasn't anything too extraordinary, just a normal apartment for one person with the occasional visit. It was actually quite… boring.

"Well, I guess that's it." Junpei said as he walked towards his sofa. He sat down and turned the TV on.

"... In other news, the sewer problem in many parts of the area will continue to affect mobility and well-being for approximately a few more weeks. We recommend that you take precautions and organize your transportation."

"What?! I thought they said everything would be fixed by the end of the week!"

"Moving on to sports, the World Baseball Championship will continue tomorrow night in great fashion. The International Baseball Federation has announced that the final will be held in Tokyo next month…"

"Well, at least there's some good news." Suddenly, Junpei's watch marked 1600. "Only four o'clock? How can this day goes by so slow?" Junpei stood up and walked towards his bedroom. "I'll just take a nap, then I can start preparing the game for next week." Junpei laid down on his bed and closed his eyes.

He started to think in a lot things. More than 10 years ago, Junpei, alongside his friends, saved the world. They saved humanity of something as inevitable as dead. You would expect that nothing like the end of the world would try to happen again, but one incident after another would finish to drown humanity. Junpei witnessed two incidents, apart from the one he was involved in. A thick and horrible fog that almost engulfed the whole world, and an enormous robot-like pseudo deity that tried to control humanity by morphing it with a horrible world. Both of the incidents weren't witnessed personally, Fukka was able to show what was happening with the help of her Persona. Mitsuru was furious that they couldn't do anything to help, especially in the latter one. It kind of made SEES think that the "Shadow Operatives" weren't really that big of a help, but Aigis woke up everyone by reminding them of what happened with the "Grand Prix". After that, a big Persona-users family was born with the inclusion of the Inaba Investigation Team to the "Shadow Operatives". Many things had happened in 10 years, but nothing would have occurred if they didn't save the world back in that night of the 31st of January of 2010. And they wouldn't had been able to win without that dark-blue haired dude that sacrificed himself for his friends and humanity. Even after all that time, he still wanted things to have happened differently. He actually believed that what was done was done, that the past couldn't and shouldn't be changed, but nevertheless, he felt he had to do more. Not only for Makoto, but for everyone else as well, for SEES, for Chidori, for himself. But at the end of the day, Junpei knew that life goes on. That's the reason they wanted to fight Death back then, because they wanted to live, and they did. Besides, things were getting better for him, his baseball team was one game away from winning the championship, he was able to train his abilities with two-handed swords thanks to practices paid by Mitsuru, and his relationship with Chidori was progressing positively. Junpei was happy. With all of those thoughts he drifted away and dreamt of proposing to the love of his life, just like every other dream he ever had after meeting her…

xxx

-two hours later-

 **Bzzt… Bzzt… Bzzt…**

"Ugh… who can it be right now?" Junpei said as he tried to open his eyes after being woken up. He picked up his phone, still half-asleep, and answered the call. "Hello?"

 _"Junpei! It's Yukari, we need you here at the old SEES dorm ASAP!"_ said the voice on the other end.

"Huh? Yuka-tan?" Junpei was still trying to wake up, so he couldn't really understand what was happening. "What? Why? What's going on?"

 _"Look, I can't really explain it to you on the phone, we need you to come over to the dorm as fast as you can!"_

"What? I don't understand!"

 _"Junpei, just get your ass over here now!"_

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Junpei ended the call and got up from bed as fast as he could and headed out. "What the hell is going on?"

xxx

 **OLD SEES DORM**

"So we still don't know what those readings are?"

"N-No, I'm sorry. But I'll keep working on it!"

"I see… Alright, I'll leave it to you, Fuuka"

"Dammit, why is Junpei taking so long?"

Desperate was the word to describe how Mitsuru Kirijo, Fuuka Yamagishi and Yukari Takeba were feeling. A situation occurred that made the Shadow Operatives reunite after a long period of inactivity (something that they hoped would continue, because that would mean that there was no sort of threat). Yukari was walking back and forth in the old control room at the fourth floor of the old SEES dorm (were they planned almost every operation back in 2009), with her anxiousness being pretty obvious. Mitsuru and Fuuka, on the other hand, were way more calm about everything, but that didn't mean they were not worried.

"Yukari, calm down. I understand that you're worried, but I'm sure he'll be here any moment now. " Mitsuru said, trying to sound as comprehensive as possible.

"I can't! Akihiko was attacked! How can we be sure that Junpei is okay?"

"Yukari-chan, we understand, we are as worried as you are, but you need to try and calm down a little." Fuuka said in her usual soft voice. Yukari sighed as she realised that both Mitsuru and Fuuka were right. She stopped walking and took a deep breath.

"Alright, alright." Yukari sat on the sofa and tried to regain her composure. "It's just that I don't know what to think."

"We all feel the same way, Yukari-chan. Akihiko-san explained nothing to Mitsuru-san, he just said to gather everyone so he could talk to us about what happened."

All of a sudden, a knock came from the door. Yukari immediately got up and went to open the door. When she opened it, a sweaty and breathless Junpei was standing there.

"Sorry I'm late! I was-" Junpei was cut off by Yukari's hand grabbing his ear with anger. "OUCH! H-HEY!"

"YOU IDIOT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU TAKE SO LONG?!" Yukari said as she grabbed Junpei's ear and moved him inside the operation room.

"OUCH! I-I got here as fast as I could! The damn streets are still being repaired and I couldn't pass through! I had to take a long detour! COULD YOU PLEASE LEAVE MY EAR ALONE?! IT HURTS!"

"Damn it, Stupei! We were worried!" Yukari said as she finally freed Junpei and sat down once again.

"B-But why? What's going on?"

"It's Akihiko. He was attacked by… something." Mitsuru said bluntly.

"Huh?! W-What do you mean?!"

"We still don't know. We are waiting for him to call us and explain." Fuuka said.

"Do you think it was a shadow?" Junpei asked, now sharing the feeling of preoccupation of the girls.

"It could be, but we are not sure yet." Mitsuru said.

Suddenly, another knock was heard from the door. Mitsuru walked to the door and opened it, with Aigis, Ken Amada and Koromaru standing there, with a worried look on their faces.

"Has Akihiko-san called?" Ken immediately asked as he entered the room alongside Koromaru and Aigis.

"Not yet, but I suppose he will not take long." Mitsuru answered.

"Oh, I'm so glad you guys are safe!" Yukari said in a relieved tone.

"H-Hey, how come you're not mad at them?!" Junpei protested.

"Because I'm certain that they are not careless enough to fall asleep in their train or get distracted by a pretty girl and then get kidnapped!" Yukari answered.

"Ah, come on! That just happened one time!"

"Oh, Ken-kun! I'm so glad that you're okay!" Fuuka said, showing her sisterly affect to Ken.

"Junpei, I'm happy that nothing happened to you. When Mitsuru-san told me that Akihiko-san was attacked, I got so worried. But I'm so glad to see everyone here." Aigis said. Even though that she was a robot, her humanity was pretty noticeable.

"You know, in other circumstances, this would be a heartfelt reunion." Fuuka said, giving a soft smile.

Everyone remained silent for a bit and looked at each other. This was the first time in almost six years that they were together in a single room. And in those six years, everyone followed their own path. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it just showed that everyone managed to move on. Mitsuru was the head of the most important group in all Japan, Fuuka followed her passion and became an engineer, Yukari finished college and practically became an international star because of her modeling and acting jobs, Ken managed to finish high school and was already a college student (and always having Koromaru by his side), Aigis kept working for the Shadow Operatives, and Junpei was continuing his job as a baseball manager and was in a sweet relationship with the girl of his dreams.

"Yeah… If only Akihiko-san didn't retire from the Shadow Operatives. He's the only one missing." Ken said, breaking the silence.

"Well… He's not the only one missing… " Yukari said with a mix of melancholy and nostalgia, realizing that she said that out loud. Everyone figured out who Yukari was talking about. Another wave of silence happened, with all of the former SEES members reminiscing a bit. They weren't feeling sad, quite the contrary. They felt grateful, honoured, and they remembered him with a lot of affection and admiration.

Suddenly, an incoming call broke the silent and nostalgic/melancholic atmosphere. Fuuka immediately answered the call and everyone got closer to listen and speak.

 _"Sorry for the wait, is everyone there?"_ A voice said on the other end.

"Akihiko-san! We're all here! Are you okay? What happened?" Fuuka asked with a concerned tone.

 _"Yeah, I'm okay. Barely."_ Akihiko said giving a tired sigh. "Look guys, I'll try to explain as best as I can, but at this point I'm not even sure of what happened."

"We understand. Tell us what happened." Mitsuru said.

 _"Alright, I'll try to explain…"_

xxx

 **Brazil - 7 hours earlier**

 _You never really expect anything out of the ordinary happen at this side of the world. Sure, the United States kinda have their hands full of crap nowadays, but America as a whole isn't really a continent that experience any crazy shit. Well, at least I thought of that. I was in Brazil to do some research in police work, nothing dangerous or something like that. I was walking down the street at 11:00 am, but there were surprisingly very few people, that it actually felt like a ghost town. I was heading to the police station, but then I started to feel… something. My chest started to feel heavy, and my sight was beginning to feel fuzzy. I stopped for a moment to rest a bit, when all of a sudden, I felt an immense force pushing me so hard that I went flying for a brief moment until I fell to the ground. I got up and turned around to see what was the thing that pushed me. I saw a 'man', but honestly, he looked like a demon. He stared at me for a moment, then he gave me a creepy smile._

 _"Who the hell are you?!" I asked him. He just stood there, watching me, with that creepy smile. He was wearing what I assume was a lab coat completely ruined and some ragged up pants. In his face and in some parts of his body he had a strange red goo that kinda looked like coagulated blood that glowed, like it was lava (not that I've seen real lava in person though). I thought in attacking it, but something about that man was worrying me, so I stood my ground._

 _"Akihiko Sanada. You truly look like a fierce warrior." The man said as he kept looking at me with that ugly smile._

 _"How the hell do you know my name?!" I asked him, with my patience wearing down more by the minute._

 _"As much as I would like to talk to you about many things, I have orders to try and kill you."_

 _"Wha- What the hell are you talking about?!" I asked, not really expecting an answer, but preparing myself for a fight._

 _"In other circumstances, I would explain, but I have other orders, and besides, you may look strong on the body, but you're empty in the head."_

 _"Oh, yeah? Wanna really test if I'm an idiot?"_

 _"I don't need to test it to know that you ARE an idiot."_

 _"My friend, with each word you speak, the more I want to shove my fist in your face."_

 _"Intimidation… The only weapon of a brainless mass of walking muscles." The man started to walk towards me, slowly, and with each of his steps feeling like tremors. I wasn't really afraid, but I was being wary, so I took a step back, but what he said later made my blood boil."Oh, you're taking a step back? Didn't you say that you wanted to shove your fist in my face? Are you… a **chicken**?"_

 _That did it. I launched myself to the attack. I moved as fast as I could with my fist ready to pierce through that guy's head, but something punched me in the gut, taking my breath away. I fell to the ground, feeling the pain moving from my stomach to my whole body._

 _"A buffed guy gets mad when he gets called a chicken… Classic."_

 _"You're… an asshole." I muttered with the little breath I still had._

 _"Language, young man. Or do you want me to rip that tongue out?" The man whispered in my ear._

 _"Damn you…! Caesar!" I shouted, waiting for my Persona to come out, but it didn't. "Huh? The hell…?! Caesar!"_

 _"Oh, your little Persona isn't going to come out to help you… You are trapped in a different world right now. So I'll say this in the simplest way so that you can understand: you are in my domain now." He said as he lowered his head, mocking me. With the little strength I had, I headbutted him as hard as I could, making him stumble. "Persistent bastard."_

 _He kicked me in the face, sending me flying for a few inches. I felt blood dripping from my nose, though I honestly couldn't feel I **had** a nose after that kick. I didn't have a chance to recover when the man jumped and both of his feet landed on my chest, making me gasp in pain. He then continued to kick my face, with the occasional insult coming out of his mouth. Kicks in the stomach, me trying to get up only to be kicked in the ribs, stepping on my hands…_

 _"Well, I think I've toyed with you enough. It's time to do my job." He said as he stopped beating my ass and began to back up. He took out a gun and pointed me with it._

 _I've been in this for over ten years. I've faced many things in my life and you guys were there. But at that moment, I felt alone, I felt lost, I thought it was it. I know that sort of thing doesn't really go with me, maybe it was because it has been a long time since I last fought someone like this. I was hating on myself at that moment. I knew I let my guard down and got all cocky, even if it was for a brief moment. 'Maybe if I could use my Persona, I would be able to actually put up a good fight.` I thought to myself. I started to prepare myself to try and make a final effort, but then time stopped and I heard a voice._

 _" **Is that it? Are you really going to give up? All those years of training and fighting were just for nothing?** " The voice said. It sounded a lot like… me. Not just sounded like my voice, but it sounded like ME. " **Don't you remember the reason you wanted to be strong? How are you going to explain your demise to your sister in the afterlife?** "_

 _"T-That's…!" I said trying to figure out who or what was talking to me._

 _" **Will this freak seriously be the one that finally manages to defeat you?** "_

 _"N-No."_

 _" **You've fought countless enemies, some of them actual deities. This asshole is nothing compared to then.** "_

 _"Hah, I know."_

 _" **You know what Shinjiro would do if he saw you like this, right?"**_

 _"He would laugh at me, then he would be disappointed, he would punch my face and call me a little bitch or something along those lines."_

 _" **Then, would you really just give up?** "_

 _"No… I won't."_

 _" **Do you know who I am?** "_

 _"Now I do."_

 _" **Good, now show me and show that bastard who you REALLY are. I am thou, thou art I. Rome was nothing before I stepped up. Thanks to my strength and ingenuity, the biggest empire in the history of mankind was born. Now use your strength and your ingenuity to bring pain and defeat to this low-life.** "_

 _After I heard that, I felt time moving again. I started to get up, not really feeling any of the wounds I had a moment ago. The man was surprised, lowering his gun looking extremely confused about what was happening._

 _"You bet I will. Come forth, Caesar!" My Persona finally came out and immediately shot a wave of power that sent the man flying._

 _"Gah! W-What?! Impossible!" The man tried to get up._

 _"Heh, I think this changes everything, wouldn't you agree?"_

 _"You little-! Caesar interrupted the man by connecting a Gigantic Fist right into his face."Agh! Damn you…!"_

 _"You know, those hits you gave me actually hurt. I think is only fair that I return the 'favour' to you, don't you think?"_

 _"Grr! I'll kill you!" Suddenly, something appeared behind the man. It was… a Persona. Or it looked like it, but it looked so… twisted, so much that I couldn't really describe it accurately. It was an enormous humanoid spider-like creature that had no eyes, in its face there was only a mouth filled with sharp teeth, and it had arms (or legs, whichever you want to call them) that resembled knives._

 _"Damn it! Caesar!" Caesar immediately launched another Gigantic Fist, but the demon Persona dodged it and rushed towards me. I instantly rolled over to the left, but the Persona managed to scratch my leg. "Crap!"_

 _"How can this be?! You shouldn't be able to see my Persona! Piece of shit! You are making me run out of patience!" The man's Persona launched himself to me once again, using one of its sharp arms as a spear. I managed to duck and the spider Persona didn't even noticed, making it easier for Caesar to come out and deliver a Gigantic Fist in the thing's body and making it fly upwards. By the time the Persona came down, it was already out of the fight. "N-NO!"_

 _"Huh, that was actually disappointing and anticlimactic…" I got closer to the man, I grabbed him by the neck and lift him up without any difficulty. "Now, you are going to tell me everything I want to know without hesitation, or else you are going to have a **REALLY** bad time."_

 _"Grr...! Ha… Hahahahaha… Do you really think that you are strong enough to actually beat me? You Persona-users are quite naive." I headbutted him as hard as I could after I heard that and threw him to the ground. "Gah! Damn you! I think you broke my nose!"_

 _"For every thing that comes out from your mouth that I didn't ask to hear, I'll hurt you so bad that a broken nose is going to be the least of your worries. Now answer me, who are you? Why did you attack me?"_

 _"Hah… What good it'll do telling you? You're going to be dead soon enough." Caesar came out and delivered a nice Ziodyne to him. "AAGGHH! DAMMIT!"_

 _"Answer the damn question!"_

 _"Grr…! Well, I suppose I can humour you. You can take it as your death wish." Caesar delivered another Ziodyne. "AHHH! AT LEAST LET ME FUCKING FINISH!"_

 _"Just cut to the goddamn chase!"_

 _"Alright! You can call me Hotoke. You see, I come from an organisation of sorts, and we know everything about you and your little Shadow Operatives. Lets just say that you interfere with our plans, and we needed to take everyone of you out of the equation. And I would have succeeded in killing you if the damn 'Network' was actually strong enough to block your abilities."_

 _"What…? What's this organisation? And what is this 'Network' that you are talking about?"_

 _"Right now we are in 'place', if you want to call it that, we call the 'Shadow Network'. It's a 'world' that we managed to discover after the investigations and experiments of your friend Mitsuru Kirijo's grandfather. In here, nothing obeys logic, at least not the one from our world. Your Persona shouldn't be able to come out, but the damn thing is as unstable as you would imagine just by basing on the experiments and documents of Kouetsu Kirijo."_

 _"The Shadow Network… And what do you want to do with this? You're going to 'bring about a new world and you'll be the ruler of it'?"_

 _"Hah… You wouldn't understand. Koetsu Kirijo was a genius, he just couldn't reach the peak of that power. With the Shadow Network, not only could we harness infinite power, but we would be able to ascend… With this, we can answer one of life's biggest questions: who created us? That is what we want to accomplish."_

 _"You're doing the same experiments that Mitsuru's grandfather and Ikutsuki were doing in the past, and that alone is something we won't allow!"_

 _"That's the reason we need to take you out. We know you kids would never understand this… You just love playing superhero and special agent, you don't really want to free the world from Shadows, nor get rid of your Personas. Deep down you know it's the truth." Caesar delivered a Gigantic Fist. "AAAAGGHHH! YOU MOTHER-"_

 _" Listen here…" I got closer and picked him up one more time. I looked straight in his eyes and saw pure insanity. "You're making me really angry. So I'll say this in the simplest way so that you can understand. My friends and I are really, REALLY, tired of Shadows appearing and **fucking** things up. So what we are going to do, is take you out as a 'prisoner' and get all the information we need from you, we'll find all the members of your little organisation, beat the crap out of them, arrest them, and then confiscate-slash-destroy your little investigation. Are we clear?"_

 _"H-Hah! T-There's just going to be one problem with that plan…"_

 _"And what would that be?"_

 _"You'll never be able to find us."_

 _The moment those words left his mouth, he turned into a weird red fog and disappeared. Then, my sight started to feel fuzzy once again and my head felt like it was going to explode. I closed my eyes to try and calm down the pain. When I opened them, I realised I was standing in the middle of the highway and traffic was stopped thanks to me. The streets were filled with people once again, and most of them were looking at me and the scene that I was causing._

 _"Mova idiota!" A man yelled at me while a cacophony of horns were 'pleasing' me ears._

 _I immediately moved away and ran to the nearest ally I could to try and regain my composure and thoughts. Suddenly, I heard a man's voice._

 _"Since it would be quite boring to just accomplish our goal, I'll give you a hint to add a little bit of spice. You'll find us inside the Shadow Network… When you call your friends, why don't you ask that girl with the tracking Persona about the strange readings? Hahahahahaha…"_

 _And with that, the voice disappeared and I immediately called Mitsuru._

xxx

" _So, what do you guys think?_ " Absolute silence reigned in the room. Saying that everyone was shocked or confused was an understatement.

"Uhhh…" Was the only sound that came out of Junpei's mouth.

"I think that sums it pretty well…" Yukari said.

"I-I'm sorry, Akihiko-san, but even I can't really understand what you just said." Aigis said sounding a bit disappointed.

"O-Okay, Akihiko. I'll try to summarize what you just said, please correct me if necessary." Mitsuru said while she rubbed her eyes. "You are saying that you ended up inside a distorted world of sorts, then a strange demonic-looking man attacked you, you tried to summon your Persona but something was blocking it, then the man almost killed you, but suddenly Caesar managed to come out after he delivered a grand speech, then you managed to defeat this man and you proceeded to interrogate him, he said that he knows about the Shadow Operatives, and then he mentioned a place called the 'Shadow Network' that basically comes from the experiments and investigations made by my grandfather and Ikutsuki, this 'Network' blocked your Persona from coming out, and he explained that his organization's plan is not only harness the power of the' Network', but also ascend and find the answer to life… Did I get something wrong?"

" _U-Umm, n-no! I… think?_ " Everyone just facepalmed after those words were heard. " _Wow, it really sounds crazy when you say it that way._ "

"U-Umm, I guess the only thing that we understood is that this 'plan' is something bad, right?" Ken asked.

"W-Well, that much is true." Fuuka said.

" _You know, we're not going to be able to do anything if we just overthink things._ "

"Y-Yeah, I guess you have a point there. Okay everyone, gather around me." All the members obeyed Mitsuru's order and got close so they could come up with a plan of action of sorts. "I think we can all agree that this incident is interesting, to say the least."

"Or just confusing as shit…" Junpei couldn't resist pointing it out.

"There is something we can fully understand: this organisation is targeting us, they attacked Akihiko, and they are using my grandfather's experiments for their plans. We cannot allow that."

"But Mitsuru-san, weren't all of the documents that contained information about your grandfather experiments and the Dark Hour destroyed? I mean, yeah, we all know about it, Detective Kurosawa knows and Kikuno-san may have a grasp on the events, but none of us found out from documents or anything of sorts, we all found out about it from the people that were involved in that in the first place. And… you know, all of those people are not around anymore…" Everyone knew Ken had a really good point. The former SEES members and now Shadow Operatives didn't really discover all of that, they had to be informed by other people. And either way, Takeharu Kirijo, Shuji Ikutsuki, and Strega were all gone…

"Wait! I mean, yeah, everyone that was involved in those incidents are no longer here, but there is one person that could have leaked out those files." Yukari said, catching everyone's attention.

"But it would have been impossible for it to be leaked out! Only two people had direct access to those documents: my father and Shuji Ikutsuki. The only way someone would have found out about is if one of those two people told anyone." Mitsuru said.

"Yeah, I know that! And that is exactly what happened. Obviously your father wouldn't even think of telling anyone that information, so that would leave Ikutstuki. That bastard didn't trust anybody, but there was one particular group of people that knew about it because of their connection to Ikutstuki." After Yukari's words, everyone figured out who she was talking about, but didn't erase all doubts.

"Yukari-chan, I know you mean Strega, but how could they have leaked the files? They're gone." Fuuka said.

"I know! But what if one of them actually managed to leak the things online with the help of their blog on the internet? Namely, Jin." At that moment, everyone understood what Yukari was trying to say. Well, almost everyone.

"Holy shit… Are you saying Jin is alive and leaked the files online?!" Junpei asked.

"No, you idiot! Don't you remember? Jin blew himself up the night we fought Nyx."

"O-Oh, yeah. I forgot."

"What I'm saying is that, when Strega were gaining fame around the time The Fall was approaching, Jin may have leaked the files online in his blog, and someone managed to keep them around for all these years and actually believed in what they said."

"Hmm, that makes a lot of sense." Aigis said, thinking thoroughly about the situation.

" _Hey guys, I hate to be the party-pooper, but even if that were true, how are we going to find these people? That blog was made ten years ago, and we don't know if it's still existing. It's going to be almost impossible for us to find the people that downloaded the files._ "

"As much as I hate to admit, Akihiko-san is right. Hundreds of millions of blogs exist since the creation of the Internet. We're going to need someone that can access to the database of the social network and analyze all of the users from January of 2010. Just by thinking of it, it appears we're going to need a hacker of sorts… " Ken added and made everyone feel that there was no hope… Except for one person.

"Mitsuru-san, what are you thinking?" Aigis said, making everyone turn their attention to her.

"I think… I might know someone just like that."

"H-Huh?! Are you serious?!" Junpei asked, not that he didn't believe in Mitsuru, but it was still something impressive.

"Yeah… But we'll discuss that later. Akihiko, anything else?"

" _O-Oh, well, that man said to ask Fuuka about the readings you picked up._ "

"O-Oh, yeah. Before all of you arrived, I picked up some strange readings throughout the country. It was something… weird, to say the least. When I tried to pinpoint the exact origin and meaning of them, I started to feel lightheaded and kinda scared. It felt so… heavy of sorts. It felt like something familiar, but at the same time as something I've never felt."

" _Did you manage to get something out of them? Even if it was small? Anything?_ "

"U-Umm, there's a problem. When I was analysing them, I kinda felt overwhelmed. Being totally honest, it was too much for me… I can still be able to analyse, but it'll take a lot of time. M-My apologies." Fuuka said with slight embarrassment and disappointment.

"It's okay, Fuuka-san. We don't want you to strain yourself. Take your time!" Ken said trying to comfort her.

"Woof!" Koromaru went to Fuuka and licked her hand, showing the support and affection the canine had for her.

"Hmm… So you're saying that is too much for you…" Yukari said, with something obviously in her mind. "But what if… you don't have to bear everything yourself…?"

"What's on your mind, Yukari-san?" Aigis asked with keen interest.

"What if we help her analyse the readings? You say that it is too much for you, correct? So why don't we share the sensation you're feeling, so that way it doesn't overwhelm yourself and you can do it without any problems!" Yukari suggested, leaving everyone surprised by the idea.

"But how can we do that?" Ken asked.

"We can get close to her and touch her Persona while she does it."

"Hmm, sounds like a great idea… Is worth a try." Mitsuru said.

"Damn, Yuka-tan! When did you get this smart?" Junpei asked.

"W-What do you mean? I've always been smart!"

"Well, so much for humbleness…" Ken muttered.

"Well, Fuuka-san. We are going to touch you." Aigis said, not really getting how innuendously inappropriate her comment sounded.

"O-Okay. I have to warn you, though. If this does work, you're going to feel a little strange, so I apologise in advance!"

"Nothing to worry about. Well then, here goes nothing." Mitsuru placed her hand on top of Fuuka's head. Yukari placed her's on her back, as well as Aigis. Ken and Junpei placed theirs on Fuuka's shoulders, and Koromaru sat in front of her and she placed her hand on top of his head.

" _Sorry that I can't be over there to help you guys._ " Akihiko said, sounding apologetic.

"Don't sweat it, man." Junpei said with a reassuring tone.

"This is for you as well, Akihiko-san." Fuuka said with a gentle tone. "Alright then, here we go! Juno!"

Fuuka's Persona, Juno, came out and practically got everyone inside her shell and engulfed the place with a purple-ish light that kinda looked like fairies. Then, everyone felt a sort of rush. They began to feel… everything. They could see and hear people from all over the country and world, and they could understand all of them despite the language barrier. They felt like they were walking on the street at full speed, passing through all these people, but despite the sensation of rush, they could feel… life.

"Wow… This is amazing!" Ken said.

"So this is what Fuuka-san sees when she uses Juno… It's fascinating." Aigis said.

"W-Whoa! This is awesome! I feel like Professor Chavier using Brainy!" Junpei said with obvious amusement.

"Let's see, Fuuka. What do you feel?" Mitsuru asked.

"Give me a sec, I'll scan the area." Fuuka said, making everyone reminisce when they were climbing Tartarus and Fuuka analysed enemies. "I think I've found some interesting places! Let's see… I can sense some more clear readings on several places. It's: Sumaru City, Tokyo, Yasoinaba, and… here?"

"H-Huh, w-what do you mean 'here'?" Junpei asked.

"Y-Yeah, Tatsumi Port Island." Fuuka answered with confusion.

"Can you feel what those readings represent?" Mitsuru asked.

"Let me analyze them. C'mon, Juno. Help me!" Fuuka started to concentrate on a higher level, making everyone feel the effort she was doing. "I can feel some sort of energy, but is erratic and unstable. It kinda feels like… there are Shadows! But I don't feel any sort of aggression… I can also feel static, but it's on very particular places. B-But I can only see it more clearly here in Tatsumi Port Island, I think I may need to be closer to those other places to see where that static comes from."

"Well, in which part of Tatsumi Port Island is this static coming from?" Yukari asked.

"It's… Gekkoukan High School's rooftop?! I-I can see a door of sorts, but it feels kinda hazy…" Fuuka then calls Juno back and takes a deep breath. "I-I couldn't see more, I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, Fuuka-san. Take a rest." Aigis said, giving her a smile.

"Great job, Fuuka. Now we know a little bit more." Mitsuru said.

" _So Sumaru City, Tokyo, Yasoinaba and Tatsumi Port Island… I kinda see the relation between the last three._ "

"R-Really? What is it then?" Junpei asked.

"C'mon, it's obvious! Here at Tatsumi Port Island there was a group of Persona users that fought Shadows and Death, over at Yasoinaba a group of Persona Users fought Shadows and an ancient goddess, and in Tokyo the Phantom Thieves appeared and then fought an enormous robot-like god. Don't you see the pattern here?" Yukari answered.

"But what about Sumaru City? Did something happen over there?" Ken asked.

"Well, my father was born there. And I've heard rumors about Sumaru City…" Mitsuru said.

" _So, what's our plan?_ " Akihiko asked, obviously eager to act.

"I don't think that we fully understand what is going on. We can't act in desperate ways." Aigis points out.

"Still… I think that with other tracking Personas, we could be able to fully see everything." Fuuka said.

"I agree. I think I may have a plan…" Mitsuru said. "Akihiko, me and Fuuka are heading to Tokyo, meet us over there. We're going to pay a little visit to that hacker and her friends… The rest of you, head to Inaba. We may need the help of the Investigation Team, try to explain it as best as you can."

"So are we going to assemble the full team?" Junpei asked.

"We need the help of Rise-chan's Persona to fully analyze the readings." Fuuka said.

"Alright! Leave that to us!" Yukari said in her enthusiastic tone.

"And everyone, be careful. We don't know what we're going to face. Those people attacked Akihiko-san, and something tells me they won't leave it there. I believe in all of you, so let's go!" Aigis encouraged everyone.

"Arf Arf!" Koromaru happily answered.

"Yeah!" Junpei said feeling pumped.

"We'll do it!" Ken enthusiastically said.

" _I'll meet you guys over there. Good luck!_ " Akihiko said as he finished the call.

"I know everyone will be alright!" Fuuka said.

"Alright team, let's go!" Mitsuru said and thus the Shadow Operatives began another mission...~~

* * *

 _~~Damn, I really am a slow writer. Sorry for the wait. While I was writing this chapter, I started to get really pumped with this story._

 _Little fun story: I'm trying to name every chapter after a song (kinda like how Araki does for JoJo's), so I started to listen to songs that could fit this chapter, but I just ended up spending two hours listening to some hits. It just happens, I guess._

 _Anyway, I'm already working on the next chapter. I don't promise it'll be uploaded in less time than this one, but just remember that I AM working on this._

 _Also, I'm already thinking in ways I'll fit Persona 5 Royal's changes. But that is still a little bit far away. Anyways, thanks for actually reading this. Your reviews are the reason I got back into this, so thank you!_

 _JRR~~_


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